Exercise treadmills typically provide a walking or running surface which moves beneath the feet of the person utilizing the treadmill. The treadmill may be an active system wherein a motor drives the belt or a passive system wherein the user's feet drive the belt. The walking or running surface may comprise a thin, continuous loop belt which is stretched about a drive pulley on one end of the treadmill, an idler pulley on the opposite end of the treadmill and a plurality of rollers intermediate the drive pulley and idler pulley. In this type of thin belt treadmill, the rollers can generally be felt by the user's feet, thereby creating an unnatural and uncomfortable sensation. Further, a large amount of friction and drag is caused by the downward pressure of the user's feet on the belt and rollers and the tendency of the thin belt to dip or sag between the rollers. The use of a skid pad or plate in place of the rollers also results in a large amount of friction and drag caused by the downward pressure of the user's feet on the belt and skid plate and the resulting drag of the thin belt against the plate As a result of such friction, prior passive system treadmills are generally difficult to drive and prior active system treadmills generally require a motor having a horse-power (hp) in the range of approximately 4 hp-10 hp.